7:2 - Again, this sounds so harsh - "you must devote them to complete destruction," but it is necessary in the eyes of God, for His plan to be carried out. These people are God-haters and they will lead the Israelites away from God if left alone. Check my thoughts on Numbers 31 if this is really messing with your mind. We will also cover it a little more in the next two chapters.
7:7ff - God does not choose the Israelites because they were the most powerful people on earth or because they were the most innovative. He chose them because they were weak. He chose them because He has a heart for the oppressed. He chose them out of love...not because they deserved it. They could do nothing to save themselves, so God stepped in and took care of it - He brought them out of slavery. In the same way, we still see God's heart for the enslaved in our lives today. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves, yet God steps in and offers freedom. We don't deserve it...we didn't earn it...God just chooses to offer His love and grace.
7:26 - I think its a little bit scary how nonchalant we are about the destructive things we allow into our lives. Moses is adamant that the people cannot allow evil things into their houses...into their tribes...these things will destroy the Israelites from the inside out. Christians today seem to be bringing destructive elements into their homes and lives at an alarming rate. We assume its no big deal...we want to fit in culturally, yet we pay the price. We pay as we become more and more numb to sin in our lives and deaf to the voice of God.
8:2ff - God allows His people to go through hard times. He allows us to go through deserts...to experience brokenness, but He never leaves us. Through the hard times He is there carrying us through. He allows us to go through difficult situations, because it draws us to Him. In the garden, Adam and Eve had everything they could ever want. Life was perfect...they were connected fully with each other and God, yet it wasn't enough for them. When they had everything they wanted more and rejected God. God allows us to experience nothingness, so that we will understand how much we need Him and we will realize that we were made to be connected with Him.
8:5 - When my sons get in trouble, I always sit them down afterward on my lap and have a little talk with them. I tell them how much I love them and I tell them that I discipline them because I want them to grow up to be the best, godliest men that they can be. If that is my attitude with my kids, and I am a flawed, sinful human being who is still learning what it truly means to love...why would we ever think that God wouldn't discipline us. We are the children of God...because of His love for us, we are disciplined so that we can become the people God created us to be. He is a God of love, that is why sins have consequences...that is why we pay the price for our brokenness...so it will lead us to redemption.
8:20 - Read that verse. That seems to imply that the native people were given a chance to hear the voice of God and they rejected it. God is saying, "Hey Israelites - these people are being judged by me because they refused to hear my voice...they refused to humble themselves before me, and you are going to get the same if you reject me." This shows us that God is not a callous ruler who looks out only for the people of Israel...He is a God of justice who wants all people to hear His voice and come to Him. Unfortunately, there are consequences when we refuse.
9:4 - Again, God does not conquer these people because the Israelites are so holy...He allows these people to be conquered because they have brought judgement upon themselves. They are reaping what they sowed...they are experiencing the consequences of their actions. This is also a good lesson in humility for us. Don't look down on other people judgementally because of your faith...you didn't do anything to earn it. Salvation only comes through the free gift of God's grace...that is why you are saved, not because of anything you ever did. So live humbly and treat people graciously.
4 comments:
Thanks for the reminder. What does it mean when you put a "ff" after a verse reference?
7:1-3 These are difficult passages to defend to anyone outside the faith, but so is the foolishness of the cross.
v 12-16 Covenants are important to God. Don't get in his way when He is honoring them. I'm curious about the blessings that will be bestowed upon them if they follow the laws Moses is about to give. There is a lot of wealth in those promises. Who gets them, the leaders or everyone? Does the guy that works at the equivalent of McDonalds get it too, or do they depend on the trickle down since they more than likely lived much more in community and family then we do. If the trickle down is truth, we do a poor job today of sharing our blessings with our community.
ver 22-25 God would use destruction to show is might back then. Today we are called to suffer to show His might.
8:11 "Be careful that you do not forget" I need that tatooed on the back of my hand.
ch9 I think Moses is trying to tell the people it is not their goodness that is getting them the land. Same message in the 2nd testament.
Back to work. Peace.
It means "and following."
Nice comments.
B
Mr. T,
I think that the blessings being talked about here would have gone for people across the board because it mentions things like child bearing, livestock, wine, oil, grain etc (7:12-ff) those were "jobs" fit for everyday folks... like the McDonald's worker.
My Thoughts: I think its really cool to see a Bible warning come full circle and end up in a "i told you so kinda moment" ... just so you know God wasn't joking around when he gave this commandment (7:3-4) this warning is fulfilled in a negative kind of way by King Solomon in 1 Kings 11:1-6. King Solomon took many wives from different nations and ended up leading the nation of Israel into turmoil and ultimately the exile :( because he refused to obey the commands of God (which is really hard to take in because it was said that Solomon was "the wisest man of his time" (1 kings 3:12).
At the same time I see the same struggle within myself; knowing what I ought to do and not doing it. it is very frustrating to want to do good, but doing the opposite (much like what Paul describes in Rom 7:14-ff).
I like what Mr. T had to say about getting the dont forget where you came from verse tattooed on the back of your hand (so true).
Last thought: I saw a really cool parallel between Jesus and Moses in chapter 9. On multiple occasions Moses is recounting times where God's wrath burned against Israel because of disobedience and he interceded to save them. In the same way how many times do you think Jesus does that same thing for us; we screw up and He intercedes for us so God doesn't destroy us (that is such a cool picture of grace in the Old Testament, as well as a great foreshadowing to Jesus).
Good stuff from everyone... (sorry I'm LATE :D )
No such thing as late on a blog Jonny - thanks for commenting. - Brandon
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